Vincent Zhou

Personal life

Vincent Zhou was born in San Jose, California.^[2] Both of his parents are originally from China.^[3] His older sister, Vivian, is a violinist and diver.^[4][5] His mother, Fei Ge, and his father, Max Zhou, are both computer scientists and worked in Silicon Valley.^[6] When Zhou was a baby, his family moved to Palo Alto, California where they continue to reside. Zhou's mother gave up her tech job in December 2009 to focus on his training and education.^[6]

After attending Hoover Elementary, Zhou switched to Capistrano Connections Academy (CapoCA) to accommodate his training. His mother was his "Learning Coach". He was allowed to skip a couple of grade levels.^[6] For the 2013–14 school year, he took classes at the 9th grade level or higher, including pre-calculus and programming (agewise, he should have been in 7th grade).^[7] Zhou is a straight-A student. He received the Presidential Award for Educational Excellence,^[7] a recognition awarded at the sole discretion of his school principal.^[8]

Zhou moved with his mother to Colorado Springs, Colorado in the spring of 2015^[9] and returned to California a year later.^[10] He has since returned to Colorado Springs, where he spends the majority of his time. He had a Siamese tabby cat named Snookie.^[11] He volunteers regularly.^[5]

Skating career

Early years

Zhou started skating in 2005.^[2] As a young child, he had lessons with Julie Lowndes and Charlie Tickner. He was coached by Diana Miro at the juvenile level and represented the Peninsula Skating Club until the 2011–2012 season. When he was nine, Zhou started to be coached by Tammy Gambill^[11][10] and became a member of the All Year Figure Skating Club in Riverside, California. Zhou admires Patrick Chan, Brian Boitano, Michael Weiss, Yuzuru Hanyu, and Richard Dornbush.^[5][11]

He won three national titles at different levels in three consecutive years:^[7]

• 2011 U.S. intermediate champion (youngest U.S. intermediate champion)
• 2012 U.S. novice champion
• 2013 U.S. junior champion (youngest U.S. junior champion)

Zhou intended to skate at the senior level in the 2013-2014 season,^[12] but missed the season due to an injury. He was also forced to sit out the entire 2014-15 season because of a torn lateral meniscus in his right knee and a discoid meniscus. Zhou underwent surgery at the UCSF Orthepedic Institute in San Francisco to get his injuries treated.^[9]

In the spring of 2015, Zhou began training at the Broadmoor Skating Club in Colorado Springs, Colorado with Tom Zakrajsek and Becky Calvin as his new coaches.^[9] In May 2015, he returned to competition, at the Santa Fe Skatefest.^[9]

2015–2016 season

 

Zhou at the 2015–16 Junior Grand Prix Final

Making his ISU Junior Grand Prix debut, Zhou won two silver medals at the 2015 JGP events in Bratislava, Slovakia and Linz, Austria. These results qualified him for the 2015–16 JGP Final in Barcelona, where he finished fourth.

In January 2016, Zhou placed 8th on the senior level at the U.S. Championships and was named in the U.S. team to the World Junior Championships in Debrecen, Hungary. At the March event, he placed fourth in both segments and fifth overall.

2016–2017 season

Zhou changed coaches ahead of the 2016–2017 season, returning to Tammy Gambill.^[10] He has continued to train in Colorado Springs with one of his primary coaches, Drew Meekins, and Tom Zakrajsek. Starting his season on the Junior Grand Prix series, he won silver in Yokohama, Japan, having ranked first in the short and second in the free behind South Korea's Cha Jun-hwan, and then bronze in Tallinn, Estonia. In December, he made his senior international debut at the 2016 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb but withdrew after the short program.

Competing as a senior, Zhou won the silver medal at the U.S. Championships in January 2017. The following month, he stood on his first senior international podium, taking gold at the Bavarian Open. In March, he won the gold medal at the 2017 World Junior Championships. After placing 5th in the short program, he moved up to win the title with a personal best free skate.^[13]

2017–2018 season

Zhou opened the season at the Finlandia Trophy, where he scored 6th in the short program, then moved up to a second-place finish behind China's Boyang Jin after winning the free skate. He made his senior Grand Prix debut, having received assignments to the 2017 Cup of China and 2017 Internationaux de France. In China, he scored 8th in the short program and 2nd in the free skate, landing just three points short of the podium; in France, he fell on the quads in his short program, ending up 10th in the short and 9th overall. After intense training and a shoulder dislocation, Zhou headed to the 2018 U.S. Figure Skating Championships, where he attempted a total of seven quadruple jumps. He took 5th in the short program and 3rd in the free skate, taking the bronze medal. His total score was just 0.68 points behind silver medalist Ross Miner.

Alongside Nathan Chen and Adam Rippon, Zhou was named in the U.S. Olympic figure skating team to Pyeongchang, South Korea.^[14] During his short program on February 16, he became the first skater to land a quadruple Lutz jump at the Olympics.^[1] After the free program, he ultimately placed 6th, behind US national champion Nathan Chen.

In April 2018, Zhou announced on Instagram that he and his choreographer Joshua Farris completed a new exhibition program to A-ha's "Take on Me". Zhou noted he had grown fond of the song while reading Ernest Cline's Ready Player One.^[15]

2018–2019 season

At his first event of the season, the 2018 CS U.S. International Classic, Zhou placed sixth in the short, first in the free, and fourth overall.^{[citation needed]}

Zhou's assignments for the 2018-19 Grand Prix series are Skate America and NHK Trophy.^[16] At the 2018 Skate America, Zhou placed six in the short, third in the free, and fifth overall. At the 2018 NHK Trophy, Zhou placed fifth in the short, fourth in the free, and fourth overall. In late November Zhou competed at the 2018 CS Tallinn Trophy, where he won the silver medal

At the 2019 US Championships, he won the silver medal after placing third in the short program and second in the free skate.^[17] He was assigned to compete at the 2019 Four Continents Championships in early February and the 2019 World Championships in March.

At the 2019 Four Continents Championships, Zhou ranked first in the short with a personal best score of 100.18, and fifth in the free. He won the bronze medal, achieving his first podium finish at an ISU Championship.^[18].

At the 2019 World Championships, Zhou scored a new season’s best of 186.99, placing third in the free skate and won the bronze medal.^[19].

Records and achievements

• Current record holder for the junior-level men's record for the free program of 179.24 and combined total of 258.11 at the 2017 Junior Worlds.
• First skater to land the quadruple Lutz jump at the Olympics.^[1]
• First skater to land two quadruple Lutz jumps at the Olympics.^{[citation needed]}

Programs

Competitive highlights

GP: Grand Prix; CS: Challenger Series; JGP: Junior Grand Prix

Detailed results

Small medals for short and free programs awarded only at ISU Championships.

Junior and novice

Small medals for short and free programs awarded only at ISU Championships. Current ISU world bests highlighted in bold and italic.

• ISU Personal best highlighted in bold.

References

External links

• Official website
• Vincent Zhou at the International Skating Union
• Vincent Zhou at IceNetwork.com